Hyderabad: UP Yoddhas, the GMR group owned franchisee today finished their group stage campaign in style after defeating Puneri Paltan 45-41 in match 129 of season 9 of Pro Kabaddi League, played here at Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad. UP Yoddhas, having already advanced to the play-offs, went into this game with a young and dynamic side while star players were rested with the playoffs in view. Sandeep Narwal (7), Rohit Tomar (5), Durgesh Kumar (5), Aman (4), Anil Kumar (4) and Nitin Panwar (3) made their important contribution in the team’s victory. While Sandeep Narwal won Game Changer of the Match, Anil Kumar got Moment of The Match Award for his performance. With 12 wins and 71 points, UP Yoddhas successfully finished their group stage campaign in fourth position in the league standings. UP Yoddhas will now play Eliminator 2 on 13th December, 2022 which will be telecast live on Star Sports Network and can be streamed LIVE on Disney Plus Hotstar, 07:00 p.m. (IST) onwards.
UP Yoddhas won the toss inviting Puneri Paltan for the first raid of the game. Puneri Paltan drew the first blood through a Super Raid to start the game on a fiery note. Puneri Paltan earned points in quick succession but UP Yoddhas struck back in no time to cut down the five point lead to just one as the scorecard read 8-9 in 12th minute of the game. However, Puneri Paltan reinstated their lead by inflicting an All-Out over UP Yoddhas in 7th minute of the game with the scorecard reading 17-10 to the favour of Puneri Paltan. Anil Kumar of UP Yoddhas showed some mettle in final minutes of the first half and recovered his team’s loss when he sneaked through Puneri Paltan defense for a 4 point Super Raid. The first half came to an end with the scoreboard reading 19-22 favouring Puneri Paltan.
The unfinished job from the first half was done by UP Yoddhas in early minutes of the second half when they inflicted their first All-Out of the game over Puneri Paltan to cut down as five point deficit to just two as the scoreboard read 24-26 still favouring Puneri Paltan. UP Yoddhas changed their gear from here and inflicted another All-Out on their opponents in 31st minute of the game and that was the first time when UP Yoddhas took a lead as the scoreboard read 37-32. UP Yoddhas never looked back from here closing in the game with a 45-41 win.
